Wildlife

Orphaned Cougar Cub / Oregon Zoo

A tiny, orphaned cougar cub — with a fuzzy, spotted coat, baby-blue eyes and a surprisingly big voice — has briefly taken up residence behind the scenes at the Oregon Zoo’s veterinary medical centre. The cub, described as loud and rambunctious by zoo vet staff, was rescued this week by Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife officers, after a landslide separated the young cougar from its mother — via Youtube

Wildlife

Red Wolf Puppies / Museum of Life and Science

On 28 April the Museum of Life and Science‘s 6-year-old Red Wolf gave birth to a litter of three male and three female pups. This is the first litter for the Museum, since 2002. All pups and their mother were found to be in good health by the animal care team and are currently on exhibit in the Museum’s Explore the Wild exhibit — via Youtube

Wildlife

Maned Wolves / Paignton Zoo

Paignton Zoo’s South American Maned Wolves are rearing a litter of three pups. This is the first litter for the pair. The male, Tolock, arrived at Paignton Zoo in September 2016 from Katowice Zoo in Poland, where he was born in 2015. Female Milla was born in December 2012 and arrived in the UK a year later from Nordens Ark Zoo in Sweden — via ZooBorns

Craft, Entertainment, Wildlife

Wampa Plush / Choly Knight

May the fourth be with you everyone! As all the nerds know, today is Star Wars Day, so I wanted to celebrate with this super-cute-squishy little Wampa plush. I knew right away that I wanted to make a plush when I saw Star Wars day coming around, and while we’ve seen the classic characters in plush form all the time, I thought a stumpy little chibi Wampa with a bloody little arm was too good to pass up! The arm is even detachable for use in your own lightsabre battles. I made him with some long-pile minky that I had lying around that I thought suit him wonderfully; with just a scrap of red flannel and a sew-in snap, he came together perfectly — via Choly Knight

Wildlife

Dingo relative rediscovered in remote highlands of New Guinea

Scientists have confirmed the existence of an ancient dog species in one of the world’s most remote places — the mountains of Papua New Guinea and Indonesia’s Papua provinces.

The international team led by scientists from Indonesia’s University of Papua captured evidence of the New Guinea highland wild dog during a 2016 expedition to an austere, high-altitude region near the Grasberg mine, one of the world’s largest copper mines.

The discovery is the first confirmed sighting of the species in more than 40 years.

The dogs are believed likely to be the same species as the New Guinea singing dog, a wild dog that has been bred in captivity since several pairs were taken from the remote New Guinea highlands on both sides of the border in the 1950s and 1970s.

There are about 200 New Guinea singing dogs in zoos around the world, but little is known about the ancient breed famous for their unique vocalisations.

However, scientists are certain it shares ancestry with the Australian dingo — via redwolf.newsvine.com